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USANA opens new

Mexico City office

USANA Health Sciences Inc., a Salt Lake-based multilevel marketing company that sells vitamins and nutritional products, has opened an office in Mexico City. The 10,000-square-foot space will house 38 employees with room for 325. USANA said rising sales and a growing number of distributors in Mexico prompted the opening to make it more convenient for those ordering products.

Ichan dropping

bid for Oshkosh

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn is giving up his bid to buy Oshkosh after less than 25 percent of the truck maker's shares were tendered before his offer expired. Last week, Icahn made it clear he would walk away from his bid that valued the company at about $3 billion if the threshold wasn't met. The offer expired Monday with about 22 percent of shares tendered.

Baxter to acquire

Gambro for $2.7B

Drug and medical device maker Baxter International plans to buy the privately held Swedish company Gambro AB for $2.7 billion to broaden its dialysis product portfolio. Gambro makes products for patients with acute or chronic kidney disease, and Baxter said it had sales of $1.6 billion last year.

Port strike set

for mediation

Both sides in the strike at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have agreed to mediation. However, the union representing clerical workers says the work stoppage, in its eighth day Tuesday, will go on. Dockworkers are supporting the clerical workers and won't cross picket lines. Hundreds of millions of dollars in cargo is being delayed each day.

U.S. home prices

up in October

A measure of U.S. home prices rose 6.3 percent in October, compared with a year ago, the largest yearly gain since July 2006. The jump adds to signs of a comeback in the housing market. Such steady increases are encouraging more homeowners to sell their homes and entice would-be buyers to buy before prices rise further.

FedEx will offer

worker buyouts

FedEx will be offering some employees up to two years' pay next year to leave the company. The voluntary program is part of an effort to cut annual costs by $1.7 billion within three years. The buyouts are in response to a shift by customers away from premium package-delivery services toward less-expensive modes as the world economy struggles to grow.

Yahoo buys more

mobile expertise

Yahoo has acquired Silicon Valley startup OnTheAir as it tries to create more products for smartphones and tablet computers. The purchase follows Yahoo's recent acquisition of mobile startup Stamped. In both cases, Yahoo was drawn more by the engineering talent at the companies than their services. OnTheAir's service lets users conduct talk show-like video chats.

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